Meadows: Obamacare not ready, not fair

Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 at 9:24 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, August 19, 2013 at 9:24 p.m.

Calling the law “not ready for prime time,” Congressman Mark Meadows brought his campaign to defund the Affordable Care Act to Hendersonville during a speech Monday before roughly 85 conservatives at The Chariot restaurant.

During a luncheon sponsored by FreedomWorks, a Washington D.C.-based conservative group, Meadows said his letter asking House leaders to strip Obamacare funding from a September appropriations bill has garnered 77 signatures from his colleagues.

The letter being circulated by Meadows' office urges House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor to “defund the implementation and enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in any relevant appropriations bill brought to the House Floor in the 113th Congress, including any continuing appropriations bill.”

Meadows told his audience at The Chariot that the health care law passed in 2010 “is not ready, and it's not fair the way it's being implemented. And we need to make sure that we trumpet that message over and over.”

He said the language proposed in his letter would achieve a different result than the 40 votes the House has already taken to defund Obamacare since 2011, because it would force the Senate to take a vote on the issue.

“The 40 times we had before, they could just say, 'Thank you, House, we're glad that we're going to do it,'” Meadows said. “But Sept. 30, we're going to have to vote to say what we're going to do for funding for next year... Don't you think it would be good for (N.C. Sen.) Kay Hagan to take a vote and let us know exactly where she stands on this?”

Hagan said Monday that “defunding the Affordable Care Act would allow insurance companies to go back to denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, cause seniors to pay thousands more in prescription drug costs, and force young adults off their parents' insurance.”

She added that Congress should not play “political games” with threats of shutting down the government over Obamacare funding, as such a move would “harm our troops, veterans and Social Security beneficiaries.”

The people talking most about government shutdowns are the Democrats and the president, Meadows told the luncheon guests.

“I want to make sure that Social Security checks continue to go out, Medicare continues to get paid, the military continues to get paid,” he said. “It's not about that. This is just one specific area that we continue to get requests over and over for money.”

When he returned to his district from Washington, Meadows said he expected to hear that his defunding plan “was not a good idea. But actually, I've heard just the opposite. Over and over and over again, I've heard people say we must find a way to stop Obamacare.”

Not every constituent has expressed that opinion. At a talk Meadows gave Sunday at Agudas Israel Congregation, Hendersonville resident Gayle Covey stood up and described how her 60-year-old husband cannot retire from his job with health benefits because he is “uninsurable” due to a pre-existing condition.

“I cannot (understand) a Republican party right now that 40 times has voted to defund Obamacare rather than putting forward something that would support all of us,” said Covey, who said she worked for Republicans in the 1970s. “Surely, congressman, there is a place for a Republican to be progressive and find solutions to this.”

As he intimated Sunday, Meadows told his audience at The Chariot that he's “committed to listen to any great strategy that will save this great land... I'm all about covering pre-existing conditions, but the free market can always do it more effectively than the government can.”

The federal government rarely does anything efficiently, Meadows said, citing the 600 days some veterans are waiting to get disability claims approved by the Veteran's Administration and the 20 years it's expected to take for the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up an Asheville Superfund site.

“So who else do we want to implement Obamacare?” Meadows said. “The IRS? (Do) we want to get the IRS to implement this, when it took them over three years to make a determination on some 501(c)(4), just because they happened to have 912 or tea party in their name?”

Meadows referenced a speech President Barack Obama gave Aug. 9, in which the president said there will be glitches in implementing the Affordable Care Act. Obama said adjustments will likely be needed, just as they were necessary when Social Security, Medicare and children's health insurance programs began.

“That was true of the prescription drug program part D that was rolled out by a Republican president and supported by Republicans who are still in the House of Representatives,” Obama said. “That's true, by the way, of a car company rolling out a new car. It's true of Apple rolling out the new iPad.”

But there's a major difference between working out the kinks in an Apple device and government-controlled health care, Meadows said.

“Because if you have a problem with an iPhone, maybe your app doesn't work and the game you're playing on says 'Game over.' But when you're dealing with health care, 'game over' has a totally different meaning,” Meadows said. “And we need to make sure that we keep health care between a doctor and a patient, not a government and a patient.”

Meadows has a town meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, one of 10 events he's attending throughout the 11th District.

<p>Calling the law “not ready for prime time,” Congressman Mark Meadows brought his campaign to defund the Affordable Care Act to Hendersonville during a speech Monday before roughly 85 conservatives at The Chariot restaurant.</p><p>During a luncheon sponsored by FreedomWorks, a Washington D.C.-based conservative group, Meadows said his letter asking House leaders to strip Obamacare funding from a September appropriations bill has garnered 77 signatures from his colleagues.</p><p>The letter being circulated by Meadows' office urges House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor to “defund the implementation and enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in any relevant appropriations bill brought to the House Floor in the 113th Congress, including any continuing appropriations bill.”</p><p>Meadows told his audience at The Chariot that the health care law passed in 2010 “is not ready, and it's not fair the way it's being implemented. And we need to make sure that we trumpet that message over and over.” </p><p>He said the language proposed in his letter would achieve a different result than the 40 votes the House has already taken to defund Obamacare since 2011, because it would force the Senate to take a vote on the issue.</p><p>“The 40 times we had before, they could just say, 'Thank you, House, we're glad that we're going to do it,'” Meadows said. “But Sept. 30, we're going to have to vote to say what we're going to do for funding for next year... Don't you think it would be good for (N.C. Sen.) Kay Hagan to take a vote and let us know exactly where she stands on this?”</p><p>Hagan said Monday that “defunding the Affordable Care Act would allow insurance companies to go back to denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, cause seniors to pay thousands more in prescription drug costs, and force young adults off their parents' insurance.”</p><p>She added that Congress should not play “political games” with threats of shutting down the government over Obamacare funding, as such a move would “harm our troops, veterans and Social Security beneficiaries.”</p><p>The people talking most about government shutdowns are the Democrats and the president, Meadows told the luncheon guests.</p><p>“I want to make sure that Social Security checks continue to go out, Medicare continues to get paid, the military continues to get paid,” he said. “It's not about that. This is just one specific area that we continue to get requests over and over for money.”</p><p>When he returned to his district from Washington, Meadows said he expected to hear that his defunding plan “was not a good idea. But actually, I've heard just the opposite. Over and over and over again, I've heard people say we must find a way to stop Obamacare.”</p><p>Not every constituent has expressed that opinion. At a talk Meadows gave Sunday at Agudas Israel Congregation, Hendersonville resident Gayle Covey stood up and described how her 60-year-old husband cannot retire from his job with health benefits because he is “uninsurable” due to a pre-existing condition.</p><p>“I cannot (understand) a Republican party right now that 40 times has voted to defund Obamacare rather than putting forward something that would support all of us,” said Covey, who said she worked for Republicans in the 1970s. “Surely, congressman, there is a place for a Republican to be progressive and find solutions to this.”</p><p>As he intimated Sunday, Meadows told his audience at The Chariot that he's “committed to listen to any great strategy that will save this great land... I'm all about covering pre-existing conditions, but the free market can always do it more effectively than the government can.” </p><p>The federal government rarely does anything efficiently, Meadows said, citing the 600 days some veterans are waiting to get disability claims approved by the Veteran's Administration and the 20 years it's expected to take for the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up an Asheville Superfund site.</p><p>“So who else do we want to implement Obamacare?” Meadows said. “The IRS? (Do) we want to get the IRS to implement this, when it took them over three years to make a determination on some 501(c)(4), just because they happened to have 912 or tea party in their name?”</p><p>Meadows referenced a speech President Barack Obama gave Aug. 9, in which the president said there will be glitches in implementing the Affordable Care Act. Obama said adjustments will likely be needed, just as they were necessary when Social Security, Medicare and children's health insurance programs began.</p><p>“That was true of the prescription drug program part D that was rolled out by a Republican president and supported by Republicans who are still in the House of Representatives,” Obama said. “That's true, by the way, of a car company rolling out a new car. It's true of Apple rolling out the new iPad.”</p><p>But there's a major difference between working out the kinks in an Apple device and government-controlled health care, Meadows said. </p><p>“Because if you have a problem with an iPhone, maybe your app doesn't work and the game you're playing on says 'Game over.' But when you're dealing with health care, 'game over' has a totally different meaning,” Meadows said. “And we need to make sure that we keep health care between a doctor and a patient, not a government and a patient.”</p><p>Meadows has a town meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, one of 10 events he's attending throughout the 11th District. </p><p>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>